Monday, June 16, 2014

Virtual Ability in Second Life® is a
group. Virtual Ability, Inc. is also a nonprofit organization registered in
Colorado, USA. Most vitally, though, the people that ARE Virtual Ability are a
community, a virtual community that extends around the world, across time zones
and cultures and languages.

There are many ways to define a
community. Most definitions include things like social ties, shared common
perspectives, and shared actions or interactions in a shared setting. Sociologists include things like ethnicity
and language, caste and social divisions. Historians include settlement history
and conflict history. Economists throw in interconnected livelihood strategies,
and anthropologists add cultural factors, values, and shared cultural beliefs.

Peter Block’s 2008 book “Community:
The Structure of Belonging” takes a look at community, and at the creation of
communities, from a slightly different angle. My supper table discussion
focused on how members of the community at Virtual Ability in Second Life®
discover/figure out/create/ learn ways to “belong” and feel connected to people
physically residing all over the world. Block names shared experiences, shared
contexts, and the back-and-forth of listening/ paying attention to each other
as the critical aspects of a community that offers the power to transform us
from isolated to together, from disconnected to connected.

When Virtual Ability started, the
founders recognized how easily disability can get in the way of connecting. So,
one part of Virtual Ability’s mission is to provide people with disabilities
with a supportive environment so they can enter and thrive in virtual worlds.
Accessibility, universal design, and assistive technology are part Virtual
Ability, but the sense of belonging seems the most significant reality.

Connecting? Belonging? Listening?
Sharing? Inclusivity? Freedom? Equality? Those are some of the things that I
talk about when I describe my friendships and my experiences in-world. How
would you describe the sense of community that certainly seems to make Virtual
Ability unique?

Virtual Ability, Inc. is a
non-profit corporation based in Colorado, USA. Our mission is to enable people
with a wide range of disabilities by providing a supporting environment for
them to enter and thrive in online virtual worlds like Second Life®. Visit www.virtualability.org

Monday, June 9, 2014

The Library
at Cape Serenity in Second Life® (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cape%20Serenity/86/123/23) is a specialty collection of books
by people with disabilities. It includes many classics and it also features
originals by authors who are members of various Second Life® groups or
communities. You can read, or even take free copies of books by author such as
Dostoyevsky (who had epilepsy), George Bernard Shaw (who had a learning
disability), Isaac Asimov (who had autism spectrum disorder), or many others. You’ll also notice artwork by visual artists with disabilities,
including pieces by members of Virtual Ability, as well as other famous artists like Claude
Monet (vision disability), and Van Gogh (mental illness.)

The collection, put together with
creativity and energy by Cape Serenity’s manager, avatar Ladyslipper
Constantine, celebrates the diversity and capabilities of persons with disabilities
from all over the world. Local authors from the Virtual Ability community share
works such as “Headless Horseman” (Ronin1 Shippe), or “Poems” (Huber Grantly). As one of the properties of Virtual Ability, Inc.
in Second Life®, Cape Serenity is a beautiful, quiet residential island
featuring ponds, wildlife, gardens, and plenty of shoreline. On the patio of
the Library, friends and members of Virtual Ability community in Second Life®
can gather for poetry readings, book discussions, and other special events.

As a key part of Virtual Ability, Inc.'s mission to
help make virtual worlds like Second Life® accessible to, and supportive of,
individuals with disabilities, it has developed into a diverse community that
includes people with disabilities, professionals, service providers, and others
who care about issues of disability.

Since
entering Second Life® in 2007, the Virtual Ability community has grown to
include over 850 people. While Cape Serenity features an amazing specialty
library, avatars can also visit an art museum over at Cape Able, a tavern and
swimming pool at our apartments, or training areas, a playground, and an award
winning Orientation Path designed for newcomers to virtual worlds, at Virtual
Ability Island.

Virtually
free virtual books are exciting. And, they’re just a small part of the
excitement of Virtual Ability.

Virtual Ability, Inc. is a
non-profit corporation based in Colorado, USA. Our mission is to enable people
with a wide range of disabilities by providing a supporting environment for
them to enter and thrive in online virtual worlds like Second Life®. Visit www.virtualability.org

Monday, June 2, 2014

It’s not if you’re an avatar working
out at the Fitness Center over on Virtual Ability’s Healthinfo Island. Of course, the issue of finding an accessible fitness center in your
local town or city is a whole other challenge. Everyone benefits from regular
exercise!

While most
of us won’t manage 260 sit-ups anywhere other than in a virtual world, it’s not
a bad idea to become aware of the options, challenges, and proven approaches to
accessing fitness centers wherever we live.

At Healthinfo
Island, however, there are some added benefits to a quick virtual workout. One
benefit? Lack of sweat! Another? After you stretch and cool-down, you can
browse an herb garden, learn about healthy eating, or explore interactive
walk-through poster sessions on timely health and wellness topics. There’s even
a Research Pavilion nearby, where people with disabilities in Second Life® are
invited to participate in and become aware of various research projects being
implemented by universities and other organizations around the world.

Using a
fitness center at Healthinfo Island is easy. Finding one that works for you in
your regular life might take a bit more patience, persistence, advocacy, and
work. But then, improved accessibility benefits everyone.

Virtual Ability, Inc. is a
non-profit corporation based in Colorado, USA. Our mission is to enable people
with a wide range of disabilities by providing a supporting environment for
them to enter and thrive in online virtual worlds like Second Life®. Visit www.virtualability.org

Disclaimer

Virtual Ability, Inc. from time to time discusses or provides links for different products or services.

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Virtual Ability, Inc. does not endorse or recommend commercial or noncommercial products, services, processes or manufacturers. Virtual Ability, Inc. assumes no liability whatsoever for the use or contents of any product or service mentioned.

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Opinions and comments expressed in blog articles are those of the authors, and do not represent the Virtual Ability, Inc. corporation.

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Virtual Ability, Inc. is a US non-profit corporation with a mission to enable people with a wide range of disabilities by providing a supporting environment for them to enter and thrive in online virtual worlds. Find out more: www.virtualability.org